ExSOLDIER
by coldguy11
Summary: When Cloud finds a mysterious teen in Edge with a mysterious background, an enemy returns, and chaos is back in the lives of the heroes. Cloti and other various pairings. Please read I guarantee you'll love it, and I'll take any input. Thanks for reading!
1. ExSOLDIER?

I hope you enjoy the story please review I'll use your input to better the story. Enjoy! XD

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Ex-SOLDIER

I

Ex-SOLDIER?

Cloud's phone went off. He swiftly pulled it out of his pocket and answered. "Cloud. Who is this?"

"Old Pal!" came the obnoxious voice of the red-haired Turk Reno.

"Reno, what's up?" said Cloud seriously because he usually didn't get calls from Reno.

Reno started to talk, but Tifa walked into the room and said, "Who is it?"

Cloud put his index finger to his lip and said to the phone, "Reno, say that again?"

"Ugh, old pal, your losin' it, aren't you?" he said and then laughed into the phone. "I said that we received reports of an ex-SOLDIER gone bad in Edge."

"And you want my help?"

"OF COURSE!" Reno replied so loudly Cloud had to move the phone from his ear and Tifa smirked. When he put the phone back to his ear, Reno was saying "You're the best SOLDIER we have! Only, in fact, haha!"

"Reno, _ex-_SODIER!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyway, you coming?" Reno said impatiently.

Cloud covered the end of his phone you talk into. "Tifa, he wants me to help stop a supposed ex-SOLDIER gone bad in Edge."

"Wow, I didn't think there were anymore."

"Hmph, neither did I." Cloud looked away.

"You should go Cloud. It'll get you back in the action!" Tifa exclaimed.

Cloud thought about it. "Alright." He started to talk into his phone again. "Reno, I'll come. Where will I meet you?"

"Just outside your door," and he started to laugh again.

Cloud hurried over to the window, pulled back the curtain, and saw a helicopter right on the street outside their building. People were staring at a happy looking Reno and Rude, who were leaning against the chopper. Reno looked up, saw Cloud, and waved, smiling. Tifa looked outside too and giggled.

"Alright on my way," said Cloud simply.

"Oh, and I brought that creepy guy you work with. What's his name? Vince?

"Vincent Valentine?"

"Yeah! Yeah, that's the one!"

Cloud looked back down and sure enough, he saw Vincent climb out of the helicopter.

"How'd you get him?"

"Well, we actually ran into him, and he asked us what we were doing flying a chopper so low, and in a city at that, and we told him we were coming to get you, so he said he had noting else to do so he'd help."

"Wow," Cloud stated simply. "Anyway, on my way down."

"Oh, and pack light, just in case. A Buster Sword will do just fine. Don't bring any more. We have supplies." With that Reno hung up.

"He sounded kind of serious before he hung up," said Cloud as he put away his phone. "Very un-Reno like."

"Don't worry about it," reassured Tifa, touching Cloud's arm lightly.

"I gotta get my sword." Cloud went to his room and opened his closet to take out his favorite Buster Sword. Then him and Tifa went to the door.

"Bye Cloud," said Tifa before Cloud opened the door and she game him a meaningful kiss on the cheek.

"Bye." They hugged, and then Cloud stepped out into the afternoon sun and approached the chopper.

"All set?" asked Rude.

"Yeah. Let's go." Cloud walked into the open section of the helicopter and sat down. Reno and Rude went into the cockpit and Vincent sat down across from Cloud.

"How ya been, Vincent?" asked Cloud as Vincent sat down.

"Can't complain," said Vincent simply. "And you?"

"I guess I've been okay.

There was silence between the two as the helicopter took off and rose above the buildings and started to fly away, leaving the city behind them.

"So how come you're coming?" asked Cloud.

"Well," said Vincent. "I was in town and I saw those two flying the chopper around and then I noticed they were heading to where you live. I stopped them, and I thought I'd see what this ex-SOLDIER business is about. I always figured you were the last one really."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too."

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Hope you enjoyed and theres more coming soon pleaseplease review and I hope you liked it!


	2. The Demon Gene

Thanks for reading again, please review I'll take any input, ideas, suggestion, etc.

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Ex-SOLDIER

II

The Demon Gene

"Stay on your toes gang, we're goin' in!" shouted Reno's voice through the intercom system on the chopper.

Cloud watched Vincent take out his tri-barreled gun and load it in about two seconds. He leaned over to grab his sword, which was tied to a handle for holding in the helicopter.

"We're just gonna take you into the center of town, you two get out, and we'll fly to the scene to rendezvous with you. Then they won't see you coming," came the intercom again.

Cloud took the microphone and said into it, "Roger that."

"Look," said Vincent quietly, pointing out the small window. There was a spiral of smoke rising from the south of the city.

Then came the intercom, "GO!"

Cloud and Vincent stood up and walked over to the opening door on the side of the chopper. They were about twenty feet up from a fountain in the center of Edge. Vincent jumped out first, expertly landing on the spire at the top of the fountain. Cloud jumped and landed on the ground next to the fountain. They looked to each other, nodded, and immediately moved.

Cloud sprinted through the empty streets to the south while Vincent ran and jumped on buildings parallel to Cloud.

They pulled the final corner, and Cloud looked into a nightmare. There was a line of fire across the street with citizens sitting precariously close to the fire, their wrists bound tight.

Cloud kept running and Vincent followed suit atop the buildings. When Cloud got close enough, he could see a figure in red standing in the fire, though not getting hurt.

Three figures jumped out of an alley to his left and immediately assaulted him. Cloud took his sword in hand and started blocking the curved blades the enemies were holding, and then taking the offense by lunging past their defenses and swinging his sword in mighty arcs so as to hit all of the enemies in one hit.

A loud gunshot came from the building where Vincent was, and one of the enemies fell dead. Shortly after, the others fell by Cloud's sword.

Vincent jumped down to where cloud was, and they walked together to the fire. When they were almost there, Cloud fell to the ground, shaking.

_"It can't be," _thought Cloud, but he had seen the face right. In the fire, he saw the face of Genesis. The villain he fought against when he was just a Shinra infantryman. The pure evil that his mentor and great friend Zack Fair had fought against for any years.

* * *

"_So you wanna be in SOLDIER, huh? Hang in there._

"_You ok, Cloud?"_

"_Alright, I'm with you again, Cloud!"_

"_Embrace your dreams, and protect your SOLDIER honor."_

_

* * *

_

"Cloud. Cloud!" Vincent's voice was distant. For some reason all these flashbacks were affecting Cloud.

* * *

"_He… he tried to protect me…"_

_

* * *

_

"AHHHH!" shouted Cloud with absolute ferocity. He jumped up off the ground and sprinted into the fire. He swung his sword at Genesis, who was laughing, but as his blade came down, Genesis collapsed before his sword could reach its mark. Cloud looked down at his foe he had missed, but he didn't see Genesis.

"What the…?" exclaimed Cloud. "What happened?"

Where Genesis had collapsed lay a young boy of sixteen or seventeen. He had silver hair, a few inches over his shoulder, and when is eyes opened, amber colored eyes pierced Cloud's.

As if he floated right off the ground, the teenager jumped to his feet and locked Cloud's giant sword with two small daggers he was holding backwards in each hand.

Cloud didn't even see the move coming.

"Who are you?" asked the teen hurriedly in a strong voice uncharacteristic to a teenager. He was looking around anxiously.

"You first!" shouted Cloud angrily. "Why were you just Genesis a second ago?"

"I don't what you mean!" he exclaimed. Then he looked away. "I don't even know how I got here…"

Behind Cloud Vincent approached them. He looked at the teenager, and looked taken aback.

The chopper came in behind them and landed a few meters away. Reno and Rude hopped out and ran over to them, weapons in hand.

Vincent called over to them, "We have a problem."

Cloud didn't get any of it, but when Reno and Rude came over and looked at the teenager, who was still looking around frantically, they reared.

"DAMN, WE FOUND HIM!" exclaimed Reno in a voice that sounded angry and happy.

"Who is this?" asked Cloud who was still lost.

"This is Raven," answered Rude. "He's bad. Something went wrong when he was born, and he has these powers. Anyway, he's murdered a few people and Shinra's we've been assigned to hunting this guy down.

"We sorta slacked off, hehe," said Reno, who was almost jumping up and down with glee.

Cloud, whose sword was still locked with Raven's daggers, said to Vincent, "You know about him?"

"Yes," replied Vincent. "People used to associate me with him. We have…" and he looked at Raven, "…similar powers. I've never met him though."

"I might have been bad, I might have murdered a few people, but I never did anything that wasn't for my own good," said Raven in his piercing strong voice.

"Yeah right!" exclaimed Reno, who was now pointing his finger at Raven. "You know damn well…"

Raven cut him off, "I'm trying to change!"

There was silence. Cloud took the opportunity to unlock his weapon with Raven's and step out of the fire, which as starting to feel hot.

Raven followed suit and said, "I have the Demon Gene, I can't help it."

"Demon Gene?" asked Cloud.

"What the hell is that?" asked.

Vincent said, 'It's like a birth defect. Somewhere along the family line, supposedly a demon had a child, and then the Demon Gene is passed down, and only a certain child will get it. It's never been proven, though."

Again there was silence.

"Take me with you!" exclaimed Raven suddenly. "I…I… I can help! And you can help me, so whatever just happened here doesn't happen again!"

"We'll take you to headquarters," said Rude simply.

"NO!"

"Not to jail you, just to see what your capable of, see if you can change."

Raven looked to the fire behind him and the people bound, lying on the street, in tears. "OK."

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I hoped you liked it and I want to point out that the OC Raven was created by Kari Suttle, another user on FanFiction.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, please review! MORE COMING SOON!


	3. A Day Off

Here's another chapter. Please give more reviews, and thanks for reading!

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Ex-SOLDIER

III

A Day Off

"_So you wanna be in SOLDIER, huh? Hang in there._

"_You ok, Cloud?"_

"_Alright, I'm with you again, Cloud!"_

"_Embrace your dreams, and protect your SOLDIER honor."

* * *

_

"Cloud, wake up," said Tifa.

Cloud opened his eyes. Tifa was looking over him.

"You were asleep a while, huh?" she said, smirking. "Must have been busy yesterday."

"Zack..," Cloud whispered.

"What?" asked Tifa.

"Never mind," said Cloud as he got out of bed. He had fallen asleep immediately upon getting home yesterday and he had dreams of when Zack was teaching him and the war against Genesis.

* * *

"Soo," said Tifa, trying to break the silence as they sat at breakfast. "What do you wanna do today?"

_"She doesn't get it," _thought Cloud._ Genesis is BACK._

"I don't know."

"Marlene wanted to go see a play in town, and I think Denzel planned on meeting some friends at that park down the street," said Tifa, trying to come up with something to do.

"What play?" asked Cloud.

"I think it's called LOVELESS," she said.

_"LOVELESS!"_ thought Cloud excitedly. _"That was the play Genesis was always reciting lines from…"_

"So anyway, I guess I'll take Marlene to see LOVELESS,' said Tifa dismissively. "You'll take Denzel to the park?"

"Yeah, alright," said Cloud, his mind still on the past.

Tifa noticed his distraction. "Come on, Cloud, don't let a vision of Genesis get you down." She sat next to him and lightly kissed him. "Just, go on with life."

Cloud looked at her, and she was smiling.

* * *

"Hey, Marlene!" Cloud whispered trough the door to Marlene's room.

"Hi Cloud," she said as she opened the door, still in her nightgown. "What's up?"

"Tifa's gonna take you to see LOVELESS today."

"Yes! I've been wanting to see it for a while!"

"I'm sure you have," Cloud continued. "Anyway, can you just, tell me if anything funny happens at the show?"

"Funny how?"

"I don't know, anything out of the ordinary, OK?"

"Gotcha!"

* * *

From his seat on the park bench, Cloud watched Denzel and his friends playing at the local park. They were wrestling each other in the grass. Denzel was the clear best, beating all of his friends.

Cloud's phone went off. "Cloud here. Who is it?"

"YUFFIE!" exclaimed Yuffie through the phone.

"Hey Yuffie, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just visiting Midgar and wanted some company. Where are you?"

"I'm at a park, but lets meet somewhere else. Can we meet at the old church?"

"Where's that again?"

"Where we cured the children with the Stigma."

"Ohh, right, OK, on my way!"

Cloud closed his phone, stored it away in his pocket, and walked over to Denzel and his friends. As he approached, all the kids were in absolute awe at what they thought was "a cool guy" in their presence. "Denzel, I'm going to the church. If I'm not back before dark, just go home, got it?"

"Yeah," said Denzel. "Sure thing, Cloud."

* * *

"Here we are," said Tifa, her hands on her hips. "The Midgar Theatre of Entertainment."

Tifa and Marlene looked up at the large building that they knew was full of various playhouses.

"Alright, let's buy our tickets."

When they got to the front of the line in the main lobby, Tifa said, "Two tickets for LOVELESS."

"You got the last ones, miss," said the clerk. "We've never sold this good in a long time."

They walked through the various halls until they found Theater XII. The walked in and found their seats, which were front row left balcony seats.

"Ohh, I can't wait for it to start!" exclaimed Marlene.

And so the show went.

* * *

"Cloud!" exclaimed Yuffie as Cloud strolled into the flower patch. She hugged him and then asked, "How ya been?"

"Alright, I guess."

"So watcha been up to?" asked Yuffie, her hands behind her back.

"I went on a mission yesterday with Vincent. I saw, well I saw Genesis, but I might have just been seeing things."

"I don't really remember Genesis," said Yuffie. "I was only nine." She smiled.

"Oh, that's right," Cloud looked away.

"It's bothering you, isn't it?" asked Yuffie.

Uncharacteristically, Cloud replied, "Yes."

"Then we need to cheer you up. Hmm," she thought. "Oh! I know. We can have a friendly duel!"

"A duel?' asked Cloud curiously.

"Yeah, right here, right now!" said Yuffie, getting excited. "And we'll add some stakes to the battle! Hmm. If I win, you have to go on a date with me!" exclaimed Yuffie.

"Woah, come again?" asked Cloud who was outrageously surprised.

"If I win, you go on a date with me!" said Yuffie cheerily, still smiling.

"Well, if I win, what do I get?" asked Cloud.

"I dunno, choose something."

Cloud thought. He didn't if he liked the idea of going on a date with Yuffie, but he figured it wouldn't lead to anything even if he did lose, so he said, "Alright. If I win, then you have to get me a new weapon."

"Any weapon?" Yuffie asked.

"Any weapon, just something different."

"Deal!" and they shook hands.

"Ok winner gets their weapon to the other person's neck."

"Alright," answered Cloud, taking out his sword. "Let's do this."

The two slowly circled each other in the central area where there were no church pews.

_"The Wutai are a tricky bunch,"_ echoed Zack's voice in Cloud's head. _"They always seem to do what you least expect, and they do it fast."_

Yuffie, large shurikens in hand, jumped through the air at Cloud throwing one shuriken and preparing the other to strike. Cloud had to dodge the first one, which out him in a bad spot, exposed to attack. To prevent this, he tried to think like a Wutai. Instead of dodging the first shuriken, which is what Yuffie wanted him to do, he deflected it off his sword and then dodged in the direction the shuriken went spinning to get to the shuriken and out of Yuffie's way. It worked. Cloud had a sword in one hand, a large shuriken in the other, and Yuffie had only attacked the dust on the ground. Yuffie looked mad that she only had one shuriken now. She was even madder to see that Cloud was holding it, ready to throw. Cloud mimicked Yuffie. With the expert skill of a SOLDIER, he threw the Shuriken at Yuffie, and then leaped to attack. Yuffie, caught off guard by her own weapon being thrown at her, was able to catch her weapon, but not dodge Cloud's attack. Cloud pinned her to the ground, his blade almost at her neck, when she pulled a small shuriken out of a pouch on her waist and used it to pry Cloud's weapon out of his hand in a second. Now Cloud was weaponless and Yuffie had both her weapons back. Cloud lunged after his weapon, but Yuffie jumped up and stuck her foot out to trip him. Cloud extended his arm and caught his sword as he slammed into the ground. Immediately he spun onto his back, jumped up, and raced at Yuffie. Yuffie charged at him in turn, and the both attacked and parried for a few blows, but after Cloud disarmed one of Yuffie's shurikens so he could get his sword to her neck, at the same time his sword met her neck, the point of her other shuriken met his. Face to face, they looked into each others eyes, both having each others' weapons at each others' throats.

"Looks like a tie," said Cloud.

Yuffie laughed happily. "Sure is. Nice fighting, Cloud."

"You too, Yuffie."

Cloud considered the outcome. "Well, I guess I still owe you a date then, huh?"

"Yep!" Yuffie exclaimed happily. "And I still owe you a new weapon."

"Looks like we're agreed," said Cloud. He looked up at the sky. "I should go, I'll see you around."

"Don't forget what you owe me!" said Yuffie.

"I won't," said Cloud. "Don't forget what you owe me." Cloud walked out heading back home.

* * *

"So how was LOVELESS?" asked Cloud. Yuffie was right. Their little duel had cheered him up.

"It was amazing!" said Marlene happily.

Tifa said, "Yeah, it was pretty good." "How was the park?"

Denzel, who was already halfway done with his dinner, said, "I had fun!"

"How 'bout you, Cloud?"

"Yuffie called me," said Cloud. "She said she was in Midgar, so I met her at the Church.

"How is she?" asked Tifa, not all that happy about Cloud being alone with another Yuffie.

"She's good," said Cloud, purposely leaving out the duel and the fact that he owed her a date.

"I'm glad you sound happier, Cloud," said Tifa brightly.

"Thanks," said Cloud. "Me too." Tifa lightly kissed him. Cloud noticed she had been doing this quite a lot lately.

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Once again thanks for reading, and once again, PLEASE REVIEW! More coming soon!


	4. Inheritance

Please review people. I don't have much time for writing fanfics anymore, so if I don't get more reviews, I may have to stop writing.

Anyway, enjoy and please review!

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Ex-SOLDIER

IV

Inheritance

_Two weeks later…_

"'Morning, Cloud," said Tifa as Cloud walked into the dining room where Denzel and Marlene were sitting at the table, eating there breakfast excitedly.

"What are you two so excited about?" asked Cloud.

"Oh, nothing," said Marlene happily.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, Cloud, you'll find out sooner or later anyway," said Denzel, smiling through a mouth full of food.

"Anyway, Cloud, Denzel and Marlene are going out with their friends today, so I was thinking the two of us could go out and…" Tifa was cut off from asking to go on a date by Cloud's phone.

"Hello?" asked Cloud after he snapped his phone open.

"Hey, Cloud, what's up, man?" asked Reno.

"Hey Reno, not much. Hey how's…" but before he finished Cloud walked out of the room and into his room for some privacy.

Cloud closed the door behind him and said, "How's it going with Raven?" asked Cloud, deathly curious.

"Not bad, not bad," said Reno. "The kid's got spunk. We've sent him on a few non-important missions, just to see if we could trust him, and he always came back, mission accomplished, days before we thought he'd be back. He's definitely somebody we can trust at this point."

"Good, that's good news," started Cloud unsurely. "Any sign's of…" but Reno cut him off.

"Genesis? Nope. He's been as normal as a kid with the Demon Gene can be," Reno laughed."Anyway, Rude had an idea, and I think it would be good."

"What is it?"

"In due time, Cloud," he said. "First, though, can I speak with Tifa?"

"Oh, uh," said Cloud, taken aback by the sudden want to talk to Tifa. "Sure, I guess, lemme just go give her the phone."

Cloud walked down stairs to the dining room, where Tifa was cleaning, and without a word, he handed the phone to her. Surprised, Tifa took it.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey Tifa, it's Reno," said Reno.

Cloud stood at the doorway, impatiently waiting to here what Reno's plan was, and also curious as to what Reno was telling Tifa.

"Hi Reno, uhm, what do you need?"

"Just a favor," said Reno to Tifa. "Do you know about Raven?"

"Yeah, Cloud told me about Raven," she answered, and Cloud stood at attention, now wondering why they were talking about Raven.

"I want him to stay with you and Cloud. It would be good. He could learn to be with people properly and you two could teach him, ah, the ways of good, if you know what I mean," said Reno.

"Why are you telling me this, and not Cloud," asked Tifa, which drove Cloud absolutely nuts.

"Because you would consider it, Cloud would say no right off the bat," said Reno. "So, how 'bout it?"

Tifa laughed, and then looked right at Cloud, and said loudly, "Yes Reno! Of course Raven can live here for a while!"

"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!" shouted Cloud so loud Reno heard him through the phone and started to laugh.

Before Cloud could hang the phone up, Tifa said, "When do we get him?"

"We'll be by later to deliver him. See you soon." Reno hung up.

* * *

As Cloud sat next to Tifa in the playhouse as LOVELESS was starting, he knew why Tifa had let Raven come. She was mad that he had left in the middle of her asking him to go out that day. _"Now I'm going to have to deal with seeing Genesis everyday!" _thought Cloud madly. _"I hope Reno was right. I hope Raven really did change from the way he used to be."_

Next to him, Tifa sighed, smiled at him, and picked up Cloud's arm and put it over her shoulders, then leaned against Cloud as Act I began to start.

Cloud was somewhat taken aback, but was glad to be not be on Tifa's bad side anymore. Also, sitting there with her felt kinda nice.

As the play went on (Cloud noticed it was a really long play), Tifa slowly drew closer to Cloud. In the middle of Act III, she turned towards him, Cloud looked at her, and they kissed for about ten seconds. After that, there was an awkwardness between the two.

Eventually, LOVELESS ended, and the two walked out of the theater together, both quiet, not knowing what to say.

Tifa broke the silence by saying, "Let's go get some lunch."

* * *

They walked down the street together and into there favorite restaurant in Midgar: The Vista, a grand restaurant in a tall building with an outside deck overlooking the city. They rode the elevator up to the top floor. There a waitress seated them outside on the balcony.

"I love the view from up here," said Tifa as she looked out over and past the city.

"Hm," said Cloud, who was still unsure what to think of the situation.

They ordered their food and quickly but silently ate, mostly looking at the view and not speaking a word.

When they stepped back out onto the street, Tifa grabbed Cloud's hand and said "Follow me," and she took off down the toad. After a little while of walking, Cloud realized they were going to the old church.

* * *

"I wonder how these flowers continue to grow here," Tifa said as she and Cloud stood among the flowers.

"I dunno," said Cloud quietly.

Tifa turned to stand in front of Cloud. They looked into each others eyes for a moment, and Cloud got the message. He leaned down and kissed her. Tifa's arms went around Cloud's neck, Cloud's arms around Tifa's waist, and they stood there kissing in the flowers for a long time.

* * *

When they finally broke apart, the sun was setting, washing a cheery orange light through the broken roof of the church.

"Oh no, Raven's coming!" exclaimed Tifa all-of-the-suddenly.

"Uh oh," said Cloud, and together they absolutely sprinted home, wanting to get there before Reno and Rude arrived with Raven.

* * *

They arrived just as they saw the same helicopter yet again descend onto the street.

When the chopper landed, Reno hopped out of the back. Next to him came Raven, who looked immensely different. Next to the fact that he was carrying a new pack stuffed full, he wasn't wearing ragged clothes anymore. Instead, he was wearing a dark shirt with some pieces of black armor on his arms, chest, and shoulders, and black pants.

His hair also wasn't dirty and matted. It was clean and straight. Over his forehead, his long silver hair fell straight down to go a few inches past his shoulders. It reminded Cloud distinctly of Sephiroth.

On Raven's back was a rapier-like sword, similar to that of Genesis, and beneath the armor Cloud could see the outline of pouches that contained who-knows-what.

Reno approached them with Raven and laughed "He's all yours!"

"Hi Raven," said Tifa, sticking out her hand. "We never met. I'm Tifa."

"Hi, and hello again, Cloud," said Raven, sounding more normal than he did last time Cloud heard him talk. "Thanks for letting me stay with you. Now I'm not on the run anymore." He shook Tifa's hand.

"Thanks Reno," said Cloud stiffly, wishing he was back in the old church with Tifa.

"No problem pal!" said Reno. "Anyway, see ya 'round."

"Bye," said Raven, and Reno hopped into the chopper and it flew off.

Tifa clapped her hands once. "OK, let's get you settled in, Raven."

* * *

They showed Raven around the building and all the rooms and then gave him the spare room they had. Raven set up a hammock against the wall where he could sleep.

At dinner, Raven was introduced to Marlene and Denzel, and after dinner, Raven asked if he could talk to Cloud in private.

"Cloud, now that I'm good, I…," he started. "I… I think I should tell somebody this. I don't know if it's significant at all, but I think I should tell you." He looked up at Cloud and said, "It's about my father."

Cloud looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Reno told me about your struggles in the past few years, and well, my father…" Raven stopped for a second, and then looked right into Cloud's eyes.

"_My father's name is Sephiroth."

* * *

Mwahaha, suspenseful ending, anyway thanks for reading and please review._


	5. Approval

FYI my fanfics being weird I'm not recieving pms and my hits don't go up but my reviews do, so anyway just heads up... anyway read, enjoy, review~

* * *

Ex-SOLDIER

V

Approval

_"My father's name is Sephiroth."_

Cloud's eyes went wide. "Oh…uhm…uh..." Cloud stuttered. "Uh, Tifa, can you come here a minute?" he called down the hall.

"Sure," she said, and she walked into the room. "What is it?"

"Raven, say what you just said."

"Oh, uhm ok," said Raven, somewhat nervous now. "My father's name is Sephiroth."

Tifa gasped. "What? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. A few years ago, a man with long silver just like mine told me he was my dad, and he said his name was Sephiroth. Reno told me about Sephiroth, so I thought I'd warn you. Uhm, sorry."

"Oh, it's not your fault," said Tifa, who was giving Cloud concerned glances. "Why don't you just get settled in your room?"

"Alright, but I'm just gonna point out that I won't get pushed around here," said Raven, then he laughed. "If you don't believe me, ask Reno." With that he walked out.

Cloud closed the door and immediately said, "I _knew_ it was him coming here wouldn't be good."

"I'd say I don't believe it but…," said Tifa. "… he just looks so much like Sephiroth."

Cloud sunk to the floor and let his head hang down. "I knew there was something wrong with him. Now we have Sephiroth-spawn in our house!" Cloud furiously slammed the wall behind him.

"C'mon, Cloud," Tifa said sitting next to him, putting her arm around him. 'It's OK." And then they kissed again for a few seconds before Marlene opened the door and stared at them.

"CLOUD! TIFA! I was happy you guys would be together, but…, really, you have to use MY ROOM to be alone?" she exclaimed.

Cloud looked at Tifa, and couldn't help but laugh out loud, and all three were eventually laughing.

* * *

Cloud sat on his bed and took his phone off his bedside table. He was about to dial Vincent's number, but his phone started ringing before he could.

"Hello?"

"Cloud. It's Vincent."

"Hey Vincent. I was just gonna call you, I…"

"Did Raven tell you anything suspicious?"

Cloud was so surprised he was silent for a second. "Uh, yeah, he told us his dad's name was Sephiroth."

"That doesn't surprise me," started Vincent. "The moment I saw him, he just looked too much like him to not be his own kin. Anyway, I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"I'm in Midgar, and I want Raven to come with me on a mission to Kalm."

"I don't understand, why would you…"

"I heard there was a small Deepground remnant squad in Kalm. Putting him in the action could show us what Raven is really capable of."

A little overwhelmed, Cloud said, "Alright, I guess that's fine. I'll go tell him. When are you gonna come?"

"Tell him to meet me at The Vista's balcony, now."

"Uhm, alright, thanks Vincent."

"No problem."

* * *

"You're going on a mission."

"With who, for what?" asked Raven, who was still in his hammock.

"Vincent Valentine."

"Who's that?"

Cloud sighed. "The man in red when we first met you."

"Alright then. Where we going?"

"He'll explain. Anyway, we've got to leave to meet him now."

* * *

"Here we are," said Cloud. He pointed up. "Just take the elevator up there onto the balcony level and go out and wait for Vincent."

"Alright." With that, Raven set off up the elevator. When he got to the balcony and looked down, he saw that Cloud was already gone. He knew there was tension between them.

After a minute or so, a helicopter flew up to the balcony railing. This was odd, so Raven assumed it was his ride. He walked to the railing, his hair whipping around in the air, and he peered into the cockpit and saw the man in red he saw in Edge. He opened the door and got into the seat next to him.

"Ready?" said Vincent, skipping hellos.

A little taken aback, Raven replied, "OK."

* * *

"Jump."

Raven looked down out of the opening doors of the helicopter and saw a large town open up beneath him. He had never been to Kalm before.

Together, Vincent and Raven leaped out of the helicopter and onto a nearby roof, dropping about twenty-five feet. With their powers, this was no problem.

Keeping it strictly to one word, Vincent said, "Follow."

Raven turned to him to say OK, but he was already jumping on to the next roof. In silence he quickly caught up with Vincent, following his silhouette that the full moon was throwing across the roofs of the houses they were running on.

At one point, they jumped up to the top of a water tower, where Vincent stopped. Swiftly landing next to him, Raven asked, "What now?"

"Kill," said Vincent, and he pointed a person on a balcony across the street. He was holding a gun but wasn't in Deepground clothes. Raven looked at Vincent, and he said, "He's in normal clothes a disguise. These are probably the last of Deepground. They're not in a rush to get killed."

Raven nodded. Without a word, he slipped his hand into one of the pouches at his waist and pulled out a small knife. All in a matter of a second, he pulled the knife out, threw it, and the soldier on the balcony collapsed and fell over the railing, dead.

"Let's move."

As quiet as the night, the two jumped across to the balcony. Out of nowhere, Vincent stiffened, pulled out his tri-barreled gun, and shot into the dark at a balcony next to the one they were on. Raven saw a figure fall, temporarily revealed by the moonlight.

"You go in here," said Vincent, and he gestured to the door that led inside the building from the balcony. "I'll go in there," he pointed to the other balcony. "Attack anyone holding a gun." With that, he jumped to the next balcony and was out of sight.

Raven slowly opened the door, walked in, and closed it behind him. It looked just like a regular house, but there were loud voices drifting up from a set of stairs I front of him. He took his rapier-sword off his back, and carrying it in his right hand, he slowly crept down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, he followed the angry voices down a hall to his right and down one more flight of stairs. There he found where the voices were coming from. There were two doors on each side of the hall. Voices were coming from both doors, and in between the two stood Vincent. He put a finger to his lips, and gestured for Raven to take the door on the left. Vincent opened the door on the right, and he closed it silently behind him.

Now smiling at the thrill of action, Raven kicked the door on the left open, and immediately saw a table with Deepground officers sitting all around it. They were startled by his sudden entrance, but quickly gathered their wits and started to grab guns hanging on the wall. Raven ran across the room to the table and swung his sword at the first one he saw, felling him instantly. Then he hopped onto the table and crouched, swing his sword on both sides of the table, striking Deepground down left and right. When the remaining sitting officers were dead, he ran at the group loading the guns by the far wall of the room. He jumped and struck one of them down, leaving two left. He quickly spun and swung his rapier in a half-arc at the second enemy. Now it was one-one-one, and the last Deepground officer had a gun.

Using his fast reflexes, Raven blocked the first few rounds with his sword, but just before he had to reload, two rounds hit him in the left arm. Being unnaturally gifted, this injury wouldn't be too much of a problem, but when Raven put his hand over the wound, his hand came back bloody.

While the enemy was reloading, he let his guard down. He thought since he had shot him he was sure to win. Raven made sure he was wrong.

Back in the hall, Raven put his sword on his back and rubbed his hands together as Vincent walked out of the door across the hall. Behind him were civilians, who had strands of rope freshly-cut around their wrists.

"Hostages," said Vincent. "Anyway, did you take them out?"

"Yeah, said Raven. "But…" He showed Vincent where he got shot, but there was nothing there anymore. "What?! I was shot twice right here, but… it's gone…"

"You have abilities similar to SOLDIER. You heal fast," said Vincent simply.

* * *

Back on the roofs, Vincent looked at Raven and said something uncharacteristic. "Well done, Raven."

"Thanks," said Raven.

"You can take the chopper back," said Vincent, pointing at a set of lights coming there way. "I'm staying here."

"Will we meet again soon?"

Vincent thought about it. "Probably," and slipped off into the night.

* * *

"So how'd it go?" asked Tifa at dinner.

"Good," said Raven. "I think I impressed him."

Cloud glared at him. "Unlikely."

Raven looked a little taken aback, but said, "He told me job well done."

Cloud's jaw dropped. Tifa exclaimed, "Wow! That's probably the nicest thing you could get out of Vincent."

_"He must be good, then,"_ thought Cloud.

* * *

After dinner, Tifa brought Cloud into the kitchen and asked, "So what do you think?"

"About Raven?" asked Cloud.

"Mhm."

"I don't know, I mean…" Cloud looked at her. He's got to be good if Vincent approves.

Tifa laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"What about you?"

"I guess he's alright. I mean, it's not like he turned into Genesis." Tifa winked.

Cloud approached Tifa. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He put his arms around Tifa and leaned in to kiss her, but then his phone went off.

Cloud sighed, and took his phone out, while Tifa giggled. "Hello?"

"Hey Cloud!" said Yuffie. "Did you forget what you owe me?"

Cloud looked at Tifa, who was anxiously awaiting his kiss.

_"DAMN!"_ thought Cloud. _"I forgot about that!"

* * *

Mwahaha lol anyway i hope you enjoyed please review because my hits aren't showing up I need to know if i still have readers. Thanks!_


	6. Mistakes

REVIEWREVIEWREVIEWREVIEW XD

* * *

Ex-SOLDIER

VI

Mistakes

Cloud awoke with a headache the next morning. _"I can't believe I forgot about Yuffie! I got so caught up in Tifa…"_

"Cloud, breakfast!" Tifa called up the stairs.

Cloud sighed. _"I don't know how I'm gonna meet Yuffie without Tifa being suspicious…"_

Tifa opened his door. "C'mon sleepyhead, get out of bed!"

"Alright, alright," said Cloud, sleep still in his voice.

They walked down to breakfast; that's when Cloud told Tifa, "I've got to go out later," he said. He had to meet Yuffie later that day, but he had to cover himself. "Cid called me. He's meeting me just outside the city."

"Oh, can I come?" asked Tifa innocently.

"Probably not. I think he wanted, uh," said Cloud, totally making it up as he went, "uhm, man-to-man meeting."

Tifa laughed, then waved her hands. "Whatever."

Cloud did a fake grin that he hoped Tifa didn't even see at all, figuring it was a giveaway. "So anyway, what are you two gonna do?" Cloud asked Marlene and Denzel, who were sitting at the table, eating their breakfast vigorously.

"Probably the park again," said Denzel with his mouth full.

"Tifa, can we go somewhere while Cloud's out?" asked Marlene in a pleading voice.

"Alright," she answered. "Where you want to go?"

"Hm," Marlene thought. "I dunno. I'll come up with something…"

Cloud looked over to Raven, who sat in the corner, eating his food quietly. "Raven, how 'bout you?"

"I dunno," replied Raven. "Maybe I'll just explore the city or something."

"OK, I'll be back later," said Cloud, and kissed Tifa goodbye, which made him feel guilty. "Bye guys," he said, waving at Denzel and Marlene.

After Cloud walked out and closed the door behind him, Denzel said, "I'm gonna get ready to go to the park." He ran upstairs.

"I know what I want to do!" exclaimed Marlene excitedly.

Tifa kneeled down next to Marlene. "And what's that?"

"Let's go eat at The Vista! I haven't been there in ages!"

Tifa smiled. "Alright, get ready to go."

* * *

"Hey Yuffie," said Cloud as he strolled into the old church uncomfortably.

Yuffie saw him and smiled. "Hi Cloud! Ready?"

_"NO." _He thought. "Yeah, let's go… uhm, where are we going?"

"I dunno… where you wanna go?"

Cloud wished he new where Marlene and Tifa were going, because he didn't want to be anywhere near them. "Let's go to _Seventh Heaven_."

"Alright, that's a good start!" said Yuffie excitedly.

_"A good START?" he thought.

* * *

_

At _Seventh Heaven_, a restaurant-bar in south Midgar, Yuffie sat across from Cloud at a table for two.

"So, how's life?" asked Cloud awkwardly.

"Life's great!" shouted Yuffie happily. "How 'bout you?"

"Alright, I guess."

There was an awkward silence.

* * *

After they left _Seventh Heaven_, Yuffie led Cloud into an alleyway, not too far from The Vista, but luckily for Cloud (though he didn't know it), The Vista was out of sight.

"Hey Cloud," Yuffie started. Thanks for coming out here, to go on a date." Yuffie giggled.

Cloud didn't see what was so funny about this.

"Oh, I have what I owe you," said Yuffie, and she held out a pouch.

Cloud took it and found it was full to the brim of normal small-scale shurikens.

"I thought you could use some ranged weaponry, so I got those." Yuffie smiled.

Cloud took the put and put it at his waist. "Cool," said Cloud, and this time what he said was serious. He had been getting sick of having to close the distance between his enemies to strike with his sword.

"And, since you came out here to spend some time with me, I think I owe you this," and Yuffie stood on her toes and kissed Cloud.

While she was kissing him, Cloud felt extremely guilty in two ways: he was with Tifa, so he shouldn't be kissing Yuffie, and he didn't want to let Yuffie down because he _did _owe her.

While Yuffie was kissing him, a bang in the distance took her off of Cloud.

"What was that," said Cloud, looking in the direction it came from. Cloud saw an opportunity, and took it by saying, "Yuffie, I gotta check that out."

"OK," said Yuffie, looking at Cloud passionately, which brought Cloud's spirits down even more. "See you around, I guess."

"Yeah," said Cloud. Wanting to escape the situation, he ran out of the alley and up the street.

* * *

He arrived at where he thought the sound came from, and saw broken glass on the ground at his feet. Cloud looked up at The Vista, where screams were drifting down from the balcony. Cloud looked at the wall, found the perfect spot, and put his SOLDIER abilities to the test by quickly sprinting up the wall and running up the wall, every now and then gripping a ledge with his hands. Eventually he made it up to The Vista's balcony. He hoped over the railing into chaos.

Tables were on fire, people scrambling to get in the small elevator before everyone else, and in the middle was Genesis holding a large pistol, firing at the feet of innocent people, making them stumble and writhe in pain on the ground.

"_GENESIS!"_ thought Cloud.

Quickly pulling his sword off his back, Cloud approached Genesis. Kicking burning tables out of the way, he reached Genesis, who hadn't noticed him because he was laughing, and put his sword right to his throat.

"GENESIS! What are you doing here? How are you back? How did you get here?"

Genesis looked at Cloud, stared him straight in the face, and laughed. After a few seconds of laughing, he spun away from Cloud's sword point and swung his rapier in an arc at Cloud's head. Cloud rolled out of the way and quickly grabbed a shuriken out of his pouch and threw it at Genesis. One of its spikes landed right in his left calf.

Genesis looked down at his leg in surprise. Grunting, he looked at Cloud and said, "Aren't you just full of surprises, Cloud."

Out of nowhere a black figure flew from the side of Cloud's vision and smashed into Genesis. Genesis fell to the side, but got up fast. Cloud looked and saw Tifa land on the ground next to where Genesis had fallen. In the corner of his eye Cloud saw Marlene standing against the railing of the balcony, looking frightened. _"So they came here."_

Now limping, Genesis walked forward to get in the center of Cloud and Tifa. Tifa pulled on her leather gloves and Cloud readied his sword, as if their battle was in a different world as the people who were screaming around them.

"_I fought Genesis when you escaped, Cloud," came a memory of Zack in Cloud's head. "He's not easy to fight. He's unpredictable."_

"_He told me that in Modeoheim!" _thought Cloud excitedly. Getting back to the fight, Cloud glanced at Tifa and winked. They both simultaneously leaped at Genesis. Genesis saw Tifa come closer in the air before Cloud did, and he swung at her. Tifa dodged by bending her body to dodge the blade, but this put her jump off balance and she landed way past Genesis.

Cloud reached Genesis and struck in midair putting all his force into the blow. Genesis blocked just I time, and staggered, so Cloud quickly swung at his side. Again, genesis barely blocked Cloud's blow. Changing tactics, Cloud spun into a thrust at Genesis' other side, and he was able to graze his side before his sword was parried away.

Out of nowhere, Tifa slammed in midair into genesis again, and they both flew over the railing, falling more than 100 feet to the street. Tifa punched Genesis continuously as the fell, but Genesis grabbed her shirt by the neck and threw into the side of the building. Tifa fell, unconscious for a second, but regained consciousness and she kicked off the wall, spun her body around, and slammed her feet right into Genesis, sending him flying into another building. Instead of hitting it, he gracefully landed feet first sideways on the wall, and then flipped down to the ground.

Cloud watched the two fall and jumped off himself, doing a back flip to prevent the full effect of gravity, and landed on the street below next to Tifa, who was standing ready to fight.

Genesis slowly approached them, people running away from the fight in all directions. He got very close to them, and then dropped his weapon. He pointed at loud and said, "Know this. I'll be back soon. _For good._" He started to laugh again.

This got Cloud's blood boiling. He threw another quick shuriken right at his chest. Genesis let it hit him. It hit him just to the right of his heart.

Genesis looked down at the second shuriken, this time protruding from his chest. "You think this is real, don't you Cloud?" He laughed one more time, and then he and his sword disappeared, and in his place a beaten-looking Raven crumpled to the ground.

Tifa gasped. Cloud couldn't believe it.

Raven slowly cried, "I… I'm bleeding!"

Tifa knelt down to next to him and looked at him. Just like with Genesis, a shuriken was sticking out of his left calf and his chest. She gasped again. "Cloud, those shurikens… they're in Raven."

Cloud rushed to the ground next to him. "Damn!" he exclaimed in anger.

"Dying…" said Raven as blood ran down his chest. The chest wasn't impenetrable, even if you had powers like a SOLDIER.

"We've gotta get these things out!" cried Tifa. First she bent over Raven's legs and quickly pulled out the shuriken in his calf. He grunted, but Tifa knew the second one would hurt much, much more.

"Hang in there," said Tifa, who was now in tears. There was a lot of blood on the street now.

Cloud just knelt there, in total disbelief, as Tifa yanked the second shuriken out of Raven's chest. He screamed in agony, and more blood started flow out onto the road. Cloud was almost in a trance. He looked at the blood and said, "I… did this…"

Tifa looked at Cloud, tears running down her face. "Cloud! CLOUD! We have to get Raven help!"

Cloud snapped back into focus. He picked up Raven, who was heavier than he looked, and he ran. They sprinted back home, then Tifa stopped and said, "MARLENE!"

Cloud didn't stop running. "Get her! I'll bring Raven home." He looked down; Raven was starting to turn chalk-white, so Cloud poured on the speed.

* * *

Tifa burst through the door, dragging Marlene in with her, who looked scared. "Cloud, where is he? Is he alright?"

Cloud showed her: Raven was lying on the kitchen table. Denzel was dabbing blood off his chest, while Raven was talking to him.

Tifa heard his voice and said, "Oh, he's alright!" She collapsed onto a disgruntled Cloud. Cloud kissed her, and she kissed back.

After a minute, the broke apart, and Cloud approached Raven and said, "I'm sorry."

Raven looked at Cloud and said, "I don't even know what happened."

So Cloud explained.

* * *

C'mon, review xD next chapter coming soon!


	7. Phoenix Materia

Thanks for reading and thanks for the reviews, enjoy, review!

* * *

Ex-SOLDIER

VII

Phoenix Materia

_"What are they doing…?"_

Vincent stood atop a tall building back in Edge. His mission: stop a powerful materia trade. Overlooking a large balcony one hundred feet up, he watched a man wearing a suit on the balcony talk into his phone.

"They should be here by now!" he said.

A few seconds later he said, "Alright, alright, tell me if they get here." He slammed his phone shut, pocketed it, and went inside through the doors below Vincent.

Vincent gracefully hopped down from the balcony and was instantly under fire.

_"Snipers!"_ He dodged around, dancing from foot to foot, trying to find them in the dark. Following the track of the bullets, he saw one and quickly fired without taking more than half a second to aim.

A startled shout came from another building, and Vincent shot him without even looking. Vincent turned and saw another figure fall off the building across the street.

_"I didn't think this materia trade would be that important…"_

He walked over to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He whipped out his tri-barreled gun again and shot the security lock and it opened silently.

"Hey! What are you…" started a guard down the hall to Vincent's left, but he was shot down before he could finish his sentence.

Vincent proceeded to the left, stepping over the guard he just shot.

After a few turns the hallway opened up into a wide room. There were two guards and the man Vincent saw outside in the room. They turned and looked at him, and Vincent immediately started dodging bullets.

He did a somersault to his right and shot his gun at the first guard as he stood out of the roll. While Vincent was reloading, he ran at the second guard and kicked him right in the chest, sending him flying into the wall. Vincent spun into a roundhouse kick right into the third guard, sending him sprawling as well. His gun now loaded, he shot the two guards and they crumpled to the floor.

"Wh…who are you?" trembled the man he saw on the balcony.

Without replying, Vincent spun his gun out of his left hand and threw it into his right and shot the guy down.

Storing his gun, he quickly looked around the room. _"I have to hide before they get here…"_

Vincent looked at where the wall met the ceiling and saw a loft-like floor, only about five by five feet. It was right above the door and hidden in the shadows; a perfect hiding spot. He leaped up to it and crouched under the low ceiling, watching the room below him.

He waited there, perfectly still, for about fifteen minutes. Eventually he heard men grunting and voices coming down the hall.

A man walked in holding a gun, and he was shot instantly by Vincent. There was silence below him, and then the men he heard coming all raced in at once. They had no idea where he was hiding, so one at a time as the spun around frantically in confusion, Vincent shot them dead.

Vincent crouched near the edge of the loft and leaped down. Behind him he heard a gun click, and he quickly spun to the left, dodging a bullet shot from behind. He looked down the hall he came from and there was a man there, standing next to a large crate on a roller. _"That's gotta be the materia!"_

This guy was much more skilled with a gun then the other guards. He shot at Vincent fast and he had to dodge out of the way. In mid roll he shot at the man by the crate but he only hit his leg. The man winced in pain and fell to the floor but kept firing at Vincent. Vincent had to shoot mid-roll again, and he only the hit the man's left arm. Now the man crumpled to the floor and Vincent shot him one more time to kill him.

Vincent approached the crate and shot the security lock on it. He hit a release button on the side and the lid pooped open. He lifted it and looked inside at a lot of materia.

_"What the hell?" _thought Vincent as he looked into the crate of materia. He had never seen materia like it before. The colors of the powerful orbs were all mixed and swirled together making materia that was red and black and some blue and red, one was even every color imaginable. _"What are these?"

* * *

_

"What the hell are these?" Vincent asked Yuffie as he slammed the crate onto the table of Yuffie's current home.

Yuffie leaned over the table to look at the color-swirled material. "WOAH!" she exclaimed excitedly, racing around the crate to get a view of the strange material from all angles.

"This is the legendary Phoenix Materia!" exclaimed Yuffie excitedly. "Vincent, where in the world did you get this?"

"I was just stopping an illegal materia trade I heard about," said Vincent. "And this was the materia they were trading."

"How'd they get their hands on this stuff!?" asked Yuffie.

Vincent thought about it and said, "I have no idea. So what do the Phoenix Materia do?"

"What do they do?!" shouted Yuffie, who was now dancing around. "They do incredible things! Amazing!"

"Like…?"

"Well, the reason they're legendary is because there was only one stash of them, found north of Modeoheim. They're most legendary power of all, however, is the restoration of life!" she exclaimed.

"Restoration…" Vincent looked at her, "…of life?"

"Yeah! They say that you infuse this materia into the heart of somebody who recently died, they're heart will be restored and they will come back to life! But…" Yuffie pointed into the middle of the crate, right at the materia that had swirls of every color, and said, "This is the only one that's complete. With the Phoenix Materia discovery, there were also incomplete ones. These are said to "not have been finished being crafted by the gods."

"So… there's really only one Phoenix Materia?"

Yuffie looked at Vincent and smiled. "Yep!"

There was silence as Yuffie stared into the crate in awe and said, "This materia is one of it's kind," she said pointing to the multicolored materia orb. "You won't find this anywhere else."

"Thanks Yuffie," said Vincent quietly. Then he picked up the crate with a heave and started to walk out the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Yuffie.

"To hide this… Phoenix Materia," said Vincent without looking at Yuffie. "And I know the perfect place."

* * *

Vincent spoke into his phone, "Cloud, I'm in Midgar, I have a… special delivery for you."

"Oh, uhm, alright," said Cloud through the phone speaker. "Come by later if you want, I'm not at home right now."

"Got it," and Vincent hung up. Swiftly Vincent jumped up onto a small building from the alleyway he was in and continued to jump from building to building until he was up on a taller building, overlooking al of Midgar. He sat down, putting the crate next to him, and he looked at the sunset.

* * *

_"Hi, Vincent."_

_ "Wha? Lu…Lucrecia?"_

_ "Yes."_

_ "Lucrecia…"_

_ "Vincent, don't forget me, but don't hide from others for the sake of me."_

"_What? I don't understand."_

"_You will soon."_

"_What are you talking about? Lucrecia? Lucrecia!"

* * *

_

Vincent woke up into the night. He sat upright quickly, hoped to his feet, and checked his surroundings. He was still atop the building. _"What just happened?"_

Vincent noticed the sun was already set, and then he felt the crate against his legs. _"I've got to deliver the Phoenix Materia!"_

He swiftly scooped up the crate of Phoenix Materia and leaped off the building and down to a smaller one across the street. After that he jumped across the buildings to reach Cloud's house faster than running through the streets.

* * *

"Hi Vincent!" said Tifa cheerily as she opened the door for him.

He gestured to her, "Tifa." Silently he walked past her and into the house. ":Where's Cloud?"

Tifa closed the door and said "He's in his room. It's up the stairs down there and take a left, second door."

"Thanks."Vincent put the crate down on the floor and went upstairs.

Vincent walked up the stairs and followed Tifa's direction to knock on Cloud's door. "Cloud, it's Vincent."

Cloud opened the door and said, "Vincent, you're here."

"Downstairs is the, eh, package," replied Vincent quietly.

"Woah," said Tifa and Cloud simultaneously as they peered into the crate.

Cloud asked, "What is this stuff?"

"Phoenix Materia. There was a materia trade, and this is what they were trading. Yuffie told me what it was."

Vincent exclaimed what Yuffie told him and the powers that the many-colored materia orb in the center had.

"So, we're just gonna keep it safe here?" asked Tifa.

"Yeah, this is something you have to keep safe," said Vincent. "Keep the life-restoring materia in a separate place. Since the others don't work, they're not important, but intruders won't know the difference."

"Alright," said Cloud. "I'll hand the working phoenix materia in my room, Tifa you can take the crate."

"Thanks," said Vincent. "See you around." Without another word he spun on the spot and walked out the door.

* * *

Cloud strolled around his room, holding the one working Phoenix Materia on the planet. Able to give back life to somebody, Cloud know it had to be kept safe… and maybe saved for something important.

Cloud opened his closet and took a metal safe out of it. Sitting on the bed, he opened up the unused safe and placed the Phoenix Materia orb inside. He looked at it for a second, then closed the safe. The second it closed it asked for a password. Cloud forgot he had never set a password on it.

Using the small keyboard next to the lock, he set the password as EX-SOLDIER.

* * *

hope you like this new addition to the plot... anyway please review and thanks for reading!


	8. Return

Sorry this ones a little short but the next one'll be longer! REVIEW

* * *

Ex-SOLDIER

VIII

Return

Now fully recovered, Raven was perched on the window ledge in his room, looking out at Midgar. Below he saw people walking and talking and above silent clouds drifted slowly through the sky. That was the freedom he wanted.

"Raven, ready?" called Tifa from behind his door. "We gotta go."

Raven, Denzel, Marlene, Tifa, and Cloud were all going to eat atop the Vista together. It was Tifa's idea, and Marlene and Denzel were excited. "Yeah, ready," answered Raven. _"Ready, but not exactly willing."_ He looked back at the slowly-drifting clouds for a few second and then went to his door and went downstairs.

* * *

As the five of them walked down the street, Raven trailing behind the rest, he looked around him, taking in everything around him. He saw Cloud holding Tifa's hand, Denzel talking to Marlene who was skipping next to him. It was like a family. A family he didn't belong in.

Tifa started to talk about Raven to Cloud. She thought he couldn't hear them, but he could. "How do you think he's holding up?'

Cloud answered, "Who, Raven?"

"Yeah," said Tifa. "I mean, he doesn't talk much, and he always sticks to himself."

* * *

As they found their seats and sat down waiting for a waiter, Raven thought, _"Hmph," _thought Raven. _"If only they knew what it was like to be me."_

_ "I do."_

Raven suddenly put his hands to his head. _"What the hell? Who is this!?"_

_ "Your family."_

_ "My… what?"_

_ "Know this, I have not forsaken you."_

_ "Who is this?"_

_ "I will return to help you, son."_

_ "Son… Sephiroth?"_

_ "I'll return to help you."_

Raven's vision was thrown back into focus. Across the table, Cloud was glancing at him suspiciously. Raven just ignored him and picked up a menu. _"What was that about? Was that… Sephiroth?"_

"Are you okay?' asked Tifa, who was now looking at Raven as well.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Raven, looking away.

* * *

When they were finished with their lunch, Cloud leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms.

Raven was looking over Cloud's shoulder when something strange caught his eye. There was some kind of ripple in the air over the railing of The Vista's balcony. Then what looked like an electrical surge shot out of the rippling air and froze time around Raven.

Raven stood up and looked around. "What the…?" He looked around him. All the people sitting around him were frozen in poses of talking, sitting, eating, and Cloud was frozen stretching. He walked slowly to the railing and saw that everyone on the street below was frozen in time as well.

Behind Raven came a voice. "It worked."

Raven spun around and grabbed his sword from his back. "Who are you?!"

He was looking at a tall man was long silver hair. At his waist was the longest sword he had ever seen. A katana at least six feet long. He smiled. "I'm your father. _I'm Sephiroth._"

"Wha…? Raven stuttered. "You're my…m…my father. Y…You're Sephiroth?"

"That's right."

"But… I thought you were dead?"

"Dead?" exclaimed Sephiroth. He burst into laughter. "I'm not so easy to kill. Anyway, son, the planet has summoned me here. I think it is because of you."

"Me? How did I…"

Sephiroth cut him off. "Genesis has been taking over you. I won't let him take control of my own son. Raven, I fought him once, I'll fight him again."

Raven was speechless.

"Return to your so-called family. I will return for good soon." With that Sephiroth snapped his fingers, and he disappeared. Everything spun around Raven, and he thought he was going to go unconscious, but then he found himself back in his chair in front of his empty plate, sitting where he was just a minute ago.

Time had resumed again. _"Something's going on, and I don't like it. My father is supposed to be gone. Sephiroth is supposed to be gone."

* * *

_

Tifa sat on her bed, Cloud standing in her doorway. "Let's go somewhere tonight."

"Like where?" asked Cloud.

"I dunno. Somewhere we can be alone." She winked at Cloud.

"Oh, well, in that case," said Cloud. "I know where we can go."

* * *

Cloud and Tifa stood atop the roof of their building. The full moon shone bright on them.

When Tifa sat down on the ledge, swinging her legs over the edge of the roof, Cloud sat down next to her and they started to kiss. After a minute or so, they lost balance and fell of the roof. The both gracefully landed, their lips never separating.

A noise to their left made the break apart. Vincent steeped out of the shadows of a dark alley.

Cloud and Tifa stepped away from each other in total embarrassment. "Uhm, Vincent," said Cloud. "What do you need?"

Vincent came further into the light, looked at Cloud, then Tifa, then smirked. "I always suspected…" He gave as much of a laugh as was possible for Vincent Valentine. "The Phoenix Materia. It's still safe?"

"Yeah, it's up in my…"

Vincent cut Cloud off. "Never tell _anyone_ where it is. I fear that something involving that materia will happen in the near future."

"OK," said Cloud timidly. "So, uhm, why'd you come?"

"I need to talk to Raven. I think something might happen to him soon. Involving Sephiroth."

"Yeah, alright, he's up in there," Cloud pointed up to a window two floors above them.

"Thanks," replied Vincent. "I'll, uhm, leave you two to it, then." With a chuckle he leaped up to the window, yanked it open, and climbed into Raven's room.

"Something about Sephiroth…" Cloud looked at the ground.

Tifa put a hand on Cloud's face. "I'm sure it'll be fine," and they began to kiss again.

* * *

The sight of Vincent suddenly landing on his window and climbing inside his room made Raven jump off his bed. "Vincent!"

Vincent looked at Raven, approached him, and said, "We meet again, Raven. I have a few questions." He grabbed Raven's collar and shook him. "And I will get truthful answers.

Raven's hand flew to his back, but his sword wasn't their. He growled and said, "Fine."

"This is confidential, of course," said Vincent businesslike. "OK. What do you know about Sephiroth?"

"Well," started Raven angrily. "He was a SOLDIER gone bad, he was experimented with by Jenova cells, he and Cloud were enemies, and he could be my father."

"Good. So have you ever seen him?"

Raven did a double take. "Seen him?"

Vincent rolled his eyes. "Yes, seen him."

"I don't…"

"Don't lie."

"Today." Raven looked embarrassed. "Time… well it froze around me, and there Sephiroth was."

"Did he say anything?"

"No."

Vincent rolled his eyes again and said again, "Don't lie!"

Raven sighed. "He told me I was his son and he was… being summoned by the planet. He said he thought he was supposed to stop Genesis."

"Genesis…" Vincent looked away. He spun on his heel and shot out of the open window.

* * *

Vincent dropped in on Cloud and Tifa, who were kissing again. "He's seen Sephiroth. Genesis is coming."

Cloud and Tifa broke apart and looked to where Vincent was just standing, but he was already gone.

* * *

hoped you liked it again sorry this chapter was short and kinda rushed but i wanted to leave whats coming up for a new chapter

REVIEWREVIEW Thanks! xD


	9. Unite

Sorry havent updated in a while. Ive been studying for exams and thats also why this chapter is kinda short, but more's comin!

* * *

Ex-SOLDIER

IX

Unite

Cloud was walking down one of the side streets in Midgar when he was stopped.

"Hey, Cloud, what's up?" called Reno from behind him.

Cloud turned and saw the Turk step out of an alley he had just walked by. "Reno. What is it?"

"What?" asked Reno, holding his hands up in the air. "I can't just visit my old buddy?" He laughed.

Cloud was taken aback. "Uh…'

Reno laughed. "I'm only teasing buddy. Anyway, you'll get a kick outta this: there's been a Sephiroth sighting."

"Wha…?" Cloud said, although he wasn't totally surprised. He knew Sephiroth would be coming from what Vincent said about Raven.

"Yep. In Nibelheim. Apparently somebody was walking by the manor and saw Sephiroth through a window. Probably just a hoax, but I'd say its worth checking out."

Cloud, knowing that Sephiroth was coming back, agreed. "Yeah, we should go."

* * *

Flying through the sky was a good feeling, Cloud noted, as he air-dropped out of Reno's chopped, landing on both feet and a hand in front of the giant Shinra Manor front doors.

Cloud approached the door and tried them. They were locked, so he reared on one leg and kicked with the other, smashing the doors open.

The entrance room of the manor was a mess. Things were thrown all over the grand room, and dust coated everything on the floor, the walls, the door, and the ceiling. The only light was a small ray of musty sunlight gleaming through the dirty stain glass window on the second floor overlooking the entrance.

Cloud strolled from door to door, looking for signs of anybody being there.

After he checked the first floor, he moved up to the second floor, heading left first. As he walked by the doors, he noticed one door handle wasn't dusty like the others. _"Somebody must've used it."_

He opened the door and peered in the room. Inside was a large fireplace that was open into a dark passageway. _"The basement is open!"_ He walked to the entrance and said into it, "Hello?" His voice echoed eerily down the passage until he couldn't hear it.

Sighing, Cloud stepped through the entrance and walked down the pitch-black passage into the basement. He held his sword tightly in front of him with both hands.

* * *

Eventually Cloud reached a larger room that was dimly lit. He remembered it. There were doors on both sides of the cave-like room. He opened one on the left and immediately recognized it. _"This is where Vincent was sleeping!"_ He looked at a coffin in front of him. The lid was on the floor and the coffin was empty.

"Good times, eh?" came a voice to the left of Cloud.

Startled, Cloud immediately spun to the left and swung his sword.

Out of the dark walked Vincent, who was holding Cloud's sword back with his gun.

Cloud let his sword fall to his side. "Vincent! I… what are you doing here?"

Vincent looked into his coffin. "For the same reason you are, I'm sure. I heard Sephiroth was here. I found the door to the basement open, and when I came down…" he paused, again looking at the coffin. "I wanted to see… my resting place. Something drew me in here." He looked away, almost as if he was embarrassed.

Wanting to help him out by changing the subject, Cloud said, "Let's look together?"

Vincent seemed to perk up a little bit more. "Alright." With one more look at his coffin, he turned and walked out of the room, followed by Cloud.

* * *

At the end of the open room, Cloud found another door handle clean of dust. He opened it and found himself in the library.

"He's got to be in here somewhere." Vincent pulled out his gun and Cloud and steadied his sword.

Walking ahead, Cloud turned a corner and his sword flew out of his hands, skidding across the floor. From behind a bookshelf on his right Sephiroth was standing there, his long sword falling to his side. "Hello, Cloud."

Cloud panicked. Weaponless, he screamed, "SEPHIROTH!" and he lunged, punching at Sephiroth, but Sephiroth hit Cloud with the hilt of his sword and Cloud sprawled to the ground, smashing his head on a bookshelf.

Vincent started to pull the trigger but Sephiroth quickly spun and disarmed him.

Vincent shouted angrily, "Why are you only disarming us? If you're going to attack, attack!"

Sephiroth smirked and dropped is sword, which clattered on the ground, echoing throughout the silent basement. "I'm not here to attack you. Otherwise," he smirked again, "You'd already be dead, or _at least_ bleeding."

Cloud, who was mad, shouted, "What are you here for then?"

Sephiroth looked to Cloud. "The planet called me. I believe it was to stop Genesis' return. Surely you've seen him?"

"Yeah, he's…" Cloud stood up. "Why should we believe you?!"

"Because," Sephiroth said, pointing to the three weapons on the floor. "You're not already dead."

Still glaring at him in disbelief and anger, Cloud said, "Genesis has been taking over your son."

"I am aware," Sephiroth started to stroll around the room, picking books off the shelves and flipping the pages. "I am also here to protect him, which is what you've been doing, Cloud, and I think you for that."

Cloud was in total, utter disbelief. Sephiroth was standing in front of him, weaponless, reading a book calmly, and thanking him.

"So… what are you suggesting?" asked Vincent quietly.

"Well, we're powerful men," Sephiroth started. "Together, we should have no problem stopping Genesis. I want to protect my son, and an alliance with enemies is the only option right now."

"That sounds… like a… good idea," said Vincent, who had calmed down. He stuck his hand out and he quickly shook hands with Sephiroth, pulling his hand back fast.

Sephiroth turned to Cloud. "Well Cloud. What do you say?"  
Cloud looked to Vincent who was looking away. Seeing no way out of the situation, Cloud slapped his forehead, sighed, and shook Sephiroth's hand.

"Alright, I found what I was looking for. Pick up your weapons. Let's go." Sephiroth closed the book he was holding, picked up his sword, and walked out. Cloud and Vincent followed suit.

* * *

Cloud opened the door to find Yuffie and Tifa standing in the main room, talking. Denzel and Marlene's voices came from upstairs.

"Tifa, Yuffie!" Cloud called into the room.

Tifa and Yuffie looked and Tifa said, "Cloud, you were gone a while! What happened."

"Well," said Cloud as Vincent walked in next to him, "We have a visitor." Cloud gestured behind him and Sephiroth walked through the door.

* * *

Hopefully you liked the new twist. REVIEW PLEASE! And to thanks to those who have reviewed!


	10. Understanding

more reviews please otherwise i MIGHT have to stop the story, anyway enjoy, review!

* * *

Ex-SOLDIER

X

Understanding

"Hi Cloud." Yuffie was standing in his doorway.

"Oh," said Cloud simply. "Hey Yuffie."

"So… Sephiroth, huh?" Yuffie was trying to start up a conversation. Cloud remembered their date, and he didn't want a repeat of that. He was with Tifa, _not Yuffie. _

"Yeah, I can't believe he's… well helping us."

Yuffie changed the conversation. "Cloud I was thinking we could go out again, maybe today?"

Cloud looked at her. She was smiling with her hands behind her back. "I don't think I can," said Cloud, lying to make her feel better. "With Sephiroth around now, I need to… eh… calm down a bit."

"Alright!" Yuffie walked out of the room.

_"Phew."

* * *

_

Vincent was standing alone on the roof of Cloud's home, thinking about Sephiroth.

"Hey Vincent!"

Vincent turned to see Yuffie appear behind hi on the roof. "Hi Yuffie." He looked back.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Vincent sighed, annoyed by her presence. "Thinking."

"Yuffie pressed further, "Whatcha thinking about?"

"Yuffie, please, go!" Vincent burst out in sudden rage.

Yuffie made a startled cry. Vincent turned and approached her.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie. Everything's just so confusing lately."

Yuffie looked at him. "It's alright Vincent." She hugged him tightly.

Vincent hugged Yuffie back, and then remembered the words of Lucrecia in his head.

_"Vincent, don't forget me, but don't hide from others for the sake of me."_

Now knowing what they meant, he leaned down to Yuffie and kissed her. After all the hardship in his life, he knew that if he kissed her, everything would be better, and so he did.

Yuffie quickly broke away from him. "Vincent! I'm with…" But then she thought about it. _"Cloud doesn't really like me… he likes Tifa…"_

Yuffie looked at Vincent, smiled again, and fiercely kissed him back.

They stood up on the roof for a long time, kissing away all of Vincent's miseries.

* * *

"I can't believe we're doing this…" Tifa sighed. Atop a building, her, Cloud, Vincent, and Sephiroth were watching Raven. He was sitting in a park below them.

Sephiroth laughed. "Neither can I."

"So… what's the plan again?" asked Tifa, who was still unsure about Sephiroth.

"Just stay here, I'm gonna go down to Raven, and if something happens, you help." Sephiroth didn't like repeating himself. He swiftly jumped down from their perch, falling about twenty-five feet and landing in the park.

Raven stood up in surprise. "Se... Sephiroth?"

"Hello, son."

"You're back again," said Raven is surprise.

"Yes. And this time I'm for good. At least for awhile anyway."

"Father, I…" Raven collapsed onto the ground. He started to shake on the ground uncontrollably.

Up on the roof, Cloud, Vincent, and Tifa stiffened, ready for action.

When Raven stood, he did not stand as Raven, but as Genesis.

Genesis stretched his fingers, balled them into a fist, and then whipped out his sword. "My old strength is back." Then he looked at Sephiroth. "Looks like somebody's completely restored." He laughed. Energy of various colors started to swirl around him. "Well so am I!"

On the roof, Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent simultaneously leaped off the roof, but they all hit an invisible force field.

Genesis laughed again. "I see you up there!"

"You've… completely taken over Raven…" Sephiroth gasped in disbelief. Then he grabbed his sword.

"That's right!" exclaimed Genesis. "And I bet your not to happy, are you? After all, _he is your son!_ And might I ask, who is his mother?"

Sephiroth growled and jumped at Genesis, swinging his sword madly. Genesis parried easily and laughed in the process. "I'm much more powerful this time. I have the power of Raven and myself! Therefore," Genesis glared at Sephiroth, "I have your power!" He attacked Sephiroth fiercely. He struck Sephiroth in the leg, and Sephiroth staggered.

Sephiroth looked at his leg in disbelief. "Those training sessions… you never put a single scratch on me!"

"That's in the past!" Genesis turned his back and ran down the road, leaping onto the rooftops. As soon as he was out of sight, the force field broke around Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent, and they all fell down to the park.

Landing next to Sephiroth, who was in utter disbelief, Cloud exclaimed, "What happened! He stopped us… in midair! And… he beat you!"

"We have to go after him!" exclaimed Sephiroth angrily, and he started to run, but Vincent stepped in front of him.

"He'll be back. Instead of pursuing, let's prepare for the next time we find him." Vincent stared off in the direction Genesis went.

Cloud shook his head and turned his back. "Let's go."

Sephiroth knelt down on the grass. _"The only thing that ever kept me hanging on to sanity…my son… and now he's gone!"_ Slamming his fists on the ground, he got up and walked away stiffly. "Meet at Cloud's place."

* * *

"So… how can we beat him?" asked Tifa.

Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Vincent, and Yuffie sat around the table in Cloud and Tifa's kitchen.

Everybody thought, but nobody knew. Cloud said, "He's unstoppable. HE stopped us right in midair! Froze us in time! How can we beat that?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "It's useless. Everyone, think of something, and stay in Midgar. Cloud, Tifa, this'll be our base of operation." He pulled a phone out of his pocket. "I got a phone on the way back. Here's the number." He handed out pieces of paper. "Call if something happens or if you think of something. I'm going to search for answers." With that Sephiroth stood up and walked out.

* * *

Yuffie and Vincent wandered down to the old Church that night.

Yuffie put her hands around Vincent and said, "Is everything alright, Vincent?"

Vincent was quit for a few seconds, and then said, "Yeah. Thank you, Yuffie. You… brightened my life."

Yuffie looked at Vincent and replied, "Aww, Vincent, that's soo sweet!" She kissed him vigorously, and Vincent kissed her back.

* * *

"WHAT!?!?!?" said Reno through the phone so loudly that Cloud actually dropped the phone.

Picking it back up, he said, "Yeah. Sephiroth is… on our side, and Genesis has completely taken over Raven."

"Oh man, oh man, oh man!" exclaimed Reno anxiously. "I miss everything! How the _HELL_ did all that happen?!?"

Cloud couldn't help but laughing. He explained to Reno how he and Vincent found Sephiroth and how Genesis had defeated them all.

Reno was totally speechless. All he could say was, "I should hang out with you guys more often. Otherwise I miss all the action!"

Cloud laughed. "Yeah."

* * *

Sephiroth landed onto the next roof, stopped, and kicked the ground angrily. Sitting down, he thought, _"Why did this have to happen?"_

Out of his pocket Sephiroth took out a small book; the one he took from the library in the basement of Shinra Manor.

He flipped through the pages to where he left off and continued to read:

_When Jenova cells are put into a human being, there is a chance it will go wrong. On the genes of the infected human, the chromosomes become overwhelmed with a powerful substance. This substance gives incredible power to whoever has it imprinted on their genes. However, eventually this substance breaks down. When it does, it will kill the person who has it. It can take many years, but science has found a cure._

_ During an expedition near Modeoheim, scientists discovered three orbs of materia. Each was swirled with two different colors. Soon after this discovery was made, a Jenova test subject went haywire. It had the unknown substance imprinted on its chromosomes. Acting on instinct, one of our elite scientists, Professor Hojo, took one of the three discovered materias and shoved it into the test subjects chest. When it absorbed in, it immediately stopped dying. IT was calm, but it did not lose its power. Later, we learned this materia was an incomplete form of the legendary Phoenix Materia._

_ It is also told that when given incomplete Phoenix Materia, the user never really dies. If they do indeed die, the planet's link to the Phoenix Materia draws the materia back, therefore bringing the user back to life. We do not understand how this link works, and it may be an incomplete new life, but we hope to find out soon. We can only imagine what the one complete Phoenix Materia can do. _

"Phoenix Materia…" said Sephiroth quietly. "We have to find it!"

Sephiroth did not know that the Phoenix Materia had already been found and recovered. He also wasn't aware of how safe _or unsafe _it was.

* * *

Hope you liked, and review!


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